Steve Zaidman, AAF-1 George Sakai, ASR-1 Federal Aviation Administration Washington, DC September 16, 2003 There are no benefits to compromising safety…only dire consequences Assessment of Radio Spectrum Depletion on ATC Voice Communications

2 Objective To determine the availability of frequencies to meet the FAAs spectrum requirements until 2015

3 Methodology How many new en-route sectors can be accommodated in todays environment at all 20 centers… Without implementation of 23 Initiatives? With the implementation of some Initiatives? With optimization? How many new terminal requirements can be supported at 4 major OEP airports… Without implementation of 23 Initiatives? With the implementation of some Initiatives? With optimization?

4 Spectrum Depletion Analysis (Without Implementation of 23 Initiatives)

5 Spectrum Depletion Analysis – Cont (Without Implementation of 23 Initiatives)

6 Spectrum Depletion Analysis – Cont (With Implementation of Some Initiatives) Notes: *--- indicates that the frequency can be assigned if inter-modulation problems are resolved Values in ( ) indicate the total number of potential assignments, including *---

7 Spectrum Depletion Analysis - Cont (With Implementation of Some Initiatives) Notes: *--- indicates that the frequency can be assigned if inter-modulation problems are resolved Values in ( ) indicate the total number of potential assignments, including *---

8 Spectrum Depletion Analysis - Cont (With Optimization) En-route: To support 1 additional high sector requirement for ZNY, the following re-tunes to the existing environment are required Terminal: To support 1 additional departure/arrival requirement at JFK, the following re-tunes to the existing environment are required

9 Spectrum Depletion Analysis Summary Without Optimization of Existing Environment En-route: No channels available for Super High, High, and Low sectors in ZAU, ZDC, ZID, ZNY, ZOB, and ZTL Terminal: No channels available for JFK, ATL, ORD, and DFW With Optimization of Existing Environment Provides the potential ability to satisfy additional requirements Examples En-route: 6 existing facilities need to be re-tuned to accommodate 1 new high enroute sector in ZNY Terminal: 5 existing facilities need to be re-tuned to accommodate 1 new departure/arrival requirement at JFK

10 What We Can Support until 2015 En-route Without Optimization Accommodate up to 3 new Super High, High, or Low en-route sector requirements for the Eastern-half of the US (provided that 2 flight-inspection channels are moved above 136 MHz and a frequency swap with AFTRCC is accomplished) If all commercial and business aircraft are equipped with 760 channel radios, up to 30 additional new Super High, High, or Low en-route sector requirements in the US can be accommodated With Optimization May be able to satisfy additional requirements (approx. 3-5) in the Eastern-half of the US, however, it would be difficult and costly Terminal Without Optimization No frequencies currently available for the 4 OEP airports used in the study. Other OEP airports will likely have similar or limited number of available channels. With Optimization Additional requirements (2-3 per OEP airport in congested areas) may be satisfied

11 What Needs to be Done if NEXCOM IOC is Delayed Until 2015 Restrict Air-Traffic operational requirements (e.g. National Airspace Re-Design) Obtain funding to complete the following: Procure maintenance radios for AF technicians (frees-up 2 flight inspection frequencies below 136 MHz) Move users above 136 MHz (Treasury, Customs, AFTRCC, etc.) Procure equipment for increased co-site interference mitigation Optimize the VHF spectrum in congested areas Procure equipment and resources for more selective keying (frees up approx. 113 frequency assignments) Procure equipment and resources for 6 kHz off-set carrier frequency use Require all commercial and business aircraft to upgrade to 760 channel radios (This will require rule-making) Air-Traffic needs to complete Phase II of the AT frequency audit

12 Background Information

13 Problem: Limited VHF Resource FAA DoD Other Federal Non-Federal MHz TV Channels 2,3, MHz TV Channels 5, MHz FM Broadcast 118 MHz122 MHz 124 MHz129 MHz 132 MHz MHz MHz VOR / ILS 108 MHz ATC Voice ATC Voice AOC Voice ACARS ATC Voice NAV MHz COMM MHz MHz ATC Other AOC MHz MHz VHF Nav and Comm MHz VHF Nav and Comm

14 ATIS/AWOS/ASOS 15.3% Current VHF Spectrum Utilization AOC 19.5% Others 10% ATS 70.5% EnRoute 25.3% Terminal 40.2% Channel Usage Air Traffic Services Usage All Others 12.5% Search & Rescue 6.7% (121.5 MHz, MHz) Total Number of Channels Available ( MHz): 760 Total Channels Available for ATC: 535* * Number of channels include those channels made available from implemented VHF initiatives to date.

15 U. S. Growth of ATC Frequency Assignments Average increase in number of channel assignments per year = 307

16 This Leads to VHF Congestion Increasingly difficult to satisfy ATC requirements in some parts of the country New York Washington D.C. Chicago Cleveland Atlanta New spectrum requirements continue to grow -- additional sectors, runways, FIS, AWOS/ASOS, etc.

17

18 VHF 23 Initiatives Developed to obtain additional spectrum resources or to make available current spectrum resources through various proposals Regulatory Technical Administrative

19 VHF 23 Initiatives (Regulatory Proposals) Review FCC frequency utilization plan and investigate the use of UNICOM and other FCC aeronautical frequencies for ATC Investigate the possibility of using FSS channels for ATC, including the frequencies through MHz Review fire-fighting frequency assignment policy Review policy for AWOS and ASOS frequency use Review air show frequency policy

20 VHF 23 Initiatives (Technical Proposals) Investigate use of part of MHz guard band for ATC channels Investigate use of the band MHz Investigate use of existing communications air/ground radios on VOR frequencies for AWOS and ASOS (broadcast only) Investigate offset operation (+/- 6 to 10 kHz off-tuned from the primary frequency) for high altitude use Investigate lowering ground control transmit antennas Investigate advantages of optimizing equipment location Investigate co-site mitigation techniques, for example, new technologies such as active interference cancellers, and testing to determine use of lower transmit powers

21 VHF 23 Initiatives (Administrative Proposals) Conduct Air Traffic audit of ATC frequencies Investigate alternate frequencies for flight check Investigate use of law enforcement channels Review operational coverage requirements for communications facilities Review ground control sub-band Review use of two VHF DoD common channels Modify FAA data base to accept additional data which would allow tighter packing of frequencies Improve coordination with ARINC on their VHF frequency usage Investigate increased use of select keying and voting systems Re-use ground control frequencies at high altitude (vertical separation) Review use of high-gain (directional) antennas